PaulY's Family Friendly Stars Presents- Columbia Pictures: Cloudy with a chance of Meat Balls: Rated PG (Brief Mild Language)

Prepare to be Served...

Today we are going to start something a little different for those of you with kids out there. We are going to call this "PaulY's Family Friendly Stars" which will be rotated into PaulY's Five Stars on a regular basis. For these films I will not only be giving it a 1-5 star review but a true Yes or No if this is a TRUE family film. With so many films out there that claim to be family films simply because they are animated films, I feel the need to start this because of my own concerns with so call "Family Films" that I have found objectionable in the past few months. I'll give the film an age rating where I feel a child should be able to watch the film, along with whether or not it is a real family film, and then a final star rating based not only on the film itself but its content there in. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs is a staple family film within my movie library. My question is, is this film truly something that I should watch with my kids? Or is it simply a romantic action comedy that just happens to be an animated film? Lets find out... Here... WE... Go! 

The first thing I want to say it, I am basing this review not on what is "acceptable" by today's standards. But by my standards as a father, of the content within the movie. Is this something I feel I could sit down and watch with my kids and not feel there is some inappropriate content that I am not comfortable with. The film starts with Flint Lockwood as a child, now while I'm not too fond of the whole class laughing at him with his invention of the spray on shoes, I feel it is warranted because not more than a minute later his mother uses it as a way to inspire her child to continue his inventing saying that many other inventors before him were laughed at as well. Now while many of us as parents have had our children come home upset because of something someone said to them at school, it is always important to remember that out of every negative you can turn it around and make it a positive. 

We go through a series of inventions that didn't work out, but he never gave up on his dream of being an inventor. I love the opening line, where Flint says "I stared at defeat and found Hope" Exactly the type of inspiration I would want my children to see. A child who was laughed at for his dream of becoming an inventor, was inspired by his parents to chase his dream, and then starred at defeat and found hope. Flint's plan was to make a machine that could turn water into food, on account the town had nothing to eat but sardines, why are they only eating sardines you might ask? Because it turned out the world found out... that sardines... are really gross. I laughed at that, when I heard it and found it something both a parent and a child would enjoy. The film starts to move quick fast and in a hurry, why? Because Children have short attention spans, hitting them with so much information so quickly, at a fun and fast rate with plenty of interesting visuals is a great way to get kids tuned in right away. 

In the opening moments of the film we are given a quick look and what will become the machine that will end up being both the savior and the villain in the film. Flint's machine that turns water into food. Kids will get a good laugh out of Flint's pretend doors to his laboratory as well as how he sings his own theme song as he runs from one place to the next, and parents will remember the days when they did it too. Unfortunately we find out quickly that his father does not support his dream of inventing, which is an important plot device for later on, but in a film where you are wanting to teach family together-ness and supporting your child's dreams no matter how big, I find this more than a little upsetting, considering how well the film started off, and we are only a few moments from when it did. So his father doesnt believe in his dream, he wants him to work at the bait and tackle shop with him, so in a sense that is a sign of family togetherness, but I would have much rather seen his father support his son's dream rather than have Flint need to work on it behind his father's back. 

We are introduced to "Baby Brent" who became famous for being on the cover of the caned sardines the town became known for, this is where some of the "Mild Rude Humor" comes into effect. I'm not sure what to make of this, I'm not sure if this is quite enough to pull it from the "Family Friendly" category but perhaps its not quite in the youngster range. But moving on, since it is rated PG for "BRIEF" rude humor I would imagine this is not a growing trend throughout the film. Not a huge fan of adult baby Brent stripping off his cloths down to his diaper to look exactly like he did when he was a baby, kids might get a kick out of this, but I'm not sure if thats the kind of humor I would want my three year old watching. Flint, puts too much power to his machine and it flies off into the sky into the clouds... and this... is where the problem of raining food comes from. Which starts as a savior to the city, but ends up being a major problem. 

Flint meats Sam... Samantha is every bit as much of an inventor as Flint it's instant love at first sight. Shortly after it begins to rain cheese burgers from the sky, meaning Flint's machine worked! Watching the whole town eat burgers actually makes me hungry, even though they are computer animated! Things begin to move fast and furious yet again, and its all very entertaining. We get a video montage of every kind of food you can think of raining from the sky. We also get a glimpse of the mayors plan for the city to use Flint's invention for his own personal gain. But the more we see new food being dropped from the sky the closer we get to the danger zone for his machine, which as we all know, means... DANGER! 

We get a good family moment when one citizen asks fora special treat for his son's birthday so that he can show just how much he loves him. What we end up with is an ice cream snow day in the neighborhood. A great moment where he tells his son... "I love you son" and his son responds "I know Dad, you tell me every day". Shortly there after, we are introduced to the "Rude Humor" yet again while Flint pie faces unsuspecting kids with ice cream snow balls at point blank range. This really isnt something I want my kids to find funny, if I saw one of my daughters nail her sister with a snowball at point blank range because they thought it was funny, I wouldn't be amused. So, it isnt long before I find just why this film is rated PG. Anyway, as we get back to the romantic part of the film, Flint makes Sam a gigantic jello mold (her favorite food) for a romantic scene, which is nice, but is it really something a kids movie needs? I have no problems with romance in movies, but why do kids need to have romance? Does my three year old need to learn about romance at her age? My six year old? My Eight year old? Romance isnt bad, it just isnt needed in a kids film.

Getting back to the film, we are hitting the danger zone, the food starts to get bigger and bigger, and who is at fault for this? The town's mayor who is only out for his own glory, not to mention how fat he is getting. The mayor is basically the villain here, not all films need to be about good vs evil. This film isnt in need of a villain, it could function perfectly fine on it's own. As the food gets bigger the a storm system starts to form, and as we all know, there is a difference between rain... and a storm. Just as Flint cuts the red ribbon to save the town, we get a very realistic looking Spaghetti Tornado. It's fun to see the different weather abnormalities, with a good amount of realism.The mayor really pushes pushes the machine into overdrive and things get out of hand in a hurry. It's a fun ride to walk the tightrope between fantasy and reality. The brewing storm gives me memories of "The Day After Tomorrow" While its involvement in food is very entertaining.

Flint's Dad finally finally believes in him to give him the inspiration he needs to save the day from his machine that he used to save the town, that looks like it could very well destroy the whole world. The giant food rains down destroying everything in its path like meteors hitting the earth.They fly up into the storm, which is good fun. The machine has genetically engineered food to protect itself which attacks them in the sky. As the film goes it's actually really hard to describe what is happening. They drop down inside the giant meat ball that the machine created to protect itself, as the team journeys through it like a cave filled with giant food, the rest of the town has made a series of boats out of giant sandwiches, does all of this sound crazy and fantastic? Well of course it does, this is a kids film right? That right there is the problem with "Family" films now days, they are filled with child hood fun and visuals but include story elements above their heads. In days past, this film could be made without all the extra content not intended for children. 

...Giant turkeys... attack Flint and his team inside the cave. Yup giant turkeys! Good fun, there is alot of good in this film, just a tad of things that are unneeded that wouldnt have made the film any less entertaining for adults. The food storm, gets so huge that it starts to effect the entire world, as things get ever more complicated inside the food storm. As you would expect, the closer Flint gets to his machine the more difficult it gets, this is something like a boss level in a video game. As he finally gets to the center and to the machine, he attempts to download the kill code into the machine. Unfortunately his dad sent him a dancing kitty email instead of the kill code...I hate that when that happens. Just when it looks like its too late and there is nothing he can do stop it, he remembers the words... "When it rains... you put on a coat" and we are reintroduced to the spray on shoes from the beginning of the film! He sprays the unbreakable latex (or whatever it's made out of) onto his machine, clogging it forever and forcing it to implode. 

Flint drops just as everything blows, and of course we all think our hero is gone, but obviously he's not. Flint is brought down from the sky by birds and dropped on the ground safely. We get a nice family moment where Flint and his father embrace. Followed by a moment where Flint kisses Sam... Now no problem with that, we end on the kiss. BUT this is a kids FAMILY movie. It would have been more appropriate to end on the father son embrace.

Final Thoughts:

Aside from a few minimal scenes that I found would be inappropriate for some younger children, along with a romantic love story that was completely unneeded for a children's film, I found this movie to have its roots based in family togetherness. A sense of hope in the face of defeat, is a great theme for the film, and sends a good message to children. The film is rated PG and it should be, I would suggest parents to pre-screen the film prior to watching it with your children, every parent has their own set boundaries for films they allow their children to see, and this one is no exception, is it a family FRIENDLY film? I believe it is... Does it have some material that is objectionable for younger children? Absolutely, but ultimately I find this film aimed more at kids then at parents, there are a few questionable moments, but I definitely feel the film is ultimately a kids movie.  

Family Film? Yes

Age appropriate: 7-12

Final Rating: 4 outa 5